Four-Star QB Michael Van Buren names Top 3

Four-star quarterback Michael Van Buren of PG County (MD) St. Frances Academy has narrowed his list to three schools– Penn State, Maryland, and Oregon.

The 6-foot, 190 pounder went in-depth on his finalists.

Penn State 

I have built a great relationship with the coaches at Penn state, mainly with Coach Franklin, Coach Yurcich, and Coach O’Brian. They make sure to communicate with me often even if it’s not about football just checking up on me and seeing how I’m doing. They’ve shown a lot of love every time I made my way down to Happy Valley and the atmosphere in beaver stadium is insane! Everyone knows about Penn State’s rich tradition and they really put their players in the right position to succeed on and off the field. 

Maryland 

Maryland is the home team and they always say “What’s a better place to do it than in your own city” and I feel that Maryland can become that real powerhouse program. They feel like this 2024 class is key! I’ve got the chance to build a great relationship with Coach Locksley and Coach Gattis and really learn about their system that was very effective at Alabama. With the right DMV guy I feel like Maryland is really not too far off from being a top ranked team. 

Oregon 

The last 3 times in Eugene were all great from watching a game, to coming up on a regular visit, then also heading up to watch spring ball. From watching I am really intrigued by their very explosive offense and can really see myself in that system. The relationship I have with Coach Lanning, Coach Stein, and the rest of the staff is very strong. They are big on relationships and family which is a big thing to me and I feel like Coach Lanning is taking Oregon in the right direction to have a lot of success in the future.

Van Buren ranks as the No. 181 player in the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He also tabs in as the No. 12 quarterback and the No. 5 player in the state of Maryland.

He currently has an On3 NIL Valuation of $150K. The On3 NIL Valuation is the industry’s leading index that sets high school and college athletes’ projected annual value (PAV). The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.